Vision
by TheInnocentLookingOne
Summary: Sadie's been having weird dreams lately, visions of the future. Only, they aren't hers, and the girl that they belong to is in the middle of what could turn into a Greek/ Egyptian war, with no idea how to stop it, and no inclination to pick sides between her families. She and the Kanes will have to figure out how to unite the Magicians and Demigods, else throw the world into chaos.
1. Chapter 1

One: Sadie

I'd already decided Carter was better off not knowing about the newest dream- phenomenon I was having, mostly because it felt personal, I guess. It usually started in the same way, visions of death and destruction.

This particular night, it started off with Horus, in all his falcon- headed glory, facing off against a rather large, well- muscled man wielding a sword and shield. Neither seemed to be winning at first, but it was clear that this other man wasn't a regular mortal, considering how well he was holding his own against the god. They appeared to be speaking, but I couldn't hear anything. The visions quickly shifted, a mighty storm coming from sea, lightning striking the Twenty- First Nome, fire, blood, then it was me and Carter, our initiates facing off against an army of teens armed with weapons, standing determined.

Eyes that weren't mine would snap open, shocked and scared, and it would normally end there, and I'd jar myself out of sleep. Now however, I was in the other person's body, swallowing thickly and calming down. They sat up, rubbed at their face, and then slid out of the bed and turned the light on. It was obviously a hotel room, but there were sketches on the wall from previous visions, some I'd witnessed and some unfamiliar, and a thick, well used journal sitting on the bedside table.

She- because no boy was that developed in the curves and chest- walked over to the sliding glass door, looked outside anxiously and shut the blinds. There was a bow and quiver a few feet away, and I could feel her biting her lip, anxious and trying to fight off the urge to notch an arrow at an enemy that wasn't there.

"Dad," she whispered, voice hoarse. "I need you. Please."

"Aislin? What is it?" She turned, and a good- looking blonde man who hadn't been there a moment before was standing near the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Why me?" Aislin demanded. "Why couldn't I have healing, or something more useful? Prophecy is the worst gift to inherit from you!"

"It had to be you, Aislin. You were my second choice for Oracle."

"Just what every daughter wants to hear," The girl snapped. "I haven't had a proper sleep in weeks, Dad, all thanks to your 'gift'. They aren't even all visions of our gods!" She gestured to rough sketches of some Egyptian gods- Horus, Anubis, Thoth and a few others, and a couple of magicians- me and Carter, Desjardins, Amos, Zia, Walt.

"Brilliant, isn't it?" The blond man grinned. "Your mother was an Egyptian Magician, you belong to both our worlds. You're so strong, Aislin."

"I don't feel _strong_, I feel _used_." She snapped.

"Look at yourself, daughter. You are so much more than you think. In fact, I feel a Haiku coming on," the man paused.

"Please don't," Aislin cut in, but he pushed on anyway.

"_Egyptians and Greeks/ Gods of all strengths and ages/ Apollo is the best_." He grinned blindingly.

"The last was six syllables," Aislin said, deadpan.

"Was it? Hm, how about, _I see everything_. That one can apply to you too. Anyways, I'd best be going, dear, so grow some confidence while I'm gone, yeah? You see for a reason." He winked, and Aislin closed her eyes. There was a flash, a red hue painted on her eyelids, and he was gone.

She stood, walked toward the bathroom, and flicked the light on, turning to the mirror, and for the first time I could see her face. She bore a striking resemblance to the man, with wavy, sandy blonde hair, and clear, haunted blue eyes. She had his eyebrows, and I had a feeling that if she'd smile, her teeth would be as blindingly white as his were.

"Gift of Prophecy," she muttered to herself. "Curse of no sleep." She really didn't show it though. No hollows under her eyes, just a smooth expanse of tan skin, long, dark lashes and delicate features. She huffed and reached out, hand clenching around the hilt of a dagger.

That was around when I actually woke up. For a moment, it felt weird being back in my own body, but then I sat up. That dream... vision... whatever it was- it would normally end where the vision ended. I'd never understood why they came to me, but now, realizing they weren't mine at all...

I knew I should be responsible, tell Uncle Amos, Carter and Bast, but like I said, it just felt too personal. Like I was connected with Aislin somehow, though I knew that was a ridiculous notion. But then, that man had mentioned Greeks, and if they somehow led to that war between our gods, they all had a right to know.

I felt like two sides of me were arguing over what to do. Isis would probably know, and this was one of those times I regretted freeing her from my body. It helped to have a second opinion. Deciding that if something came up or the dream- vision thing happened again, I'd tell them, I slipped out of bed. Sure, it was a little early by my standards, but Amos was an early riser and the buffet would already be stocked.

Carter and Amos, who were clearly talking about something important, I noticed with a pang of hurt, looked startled when I casually walked up to the buffet and loaded up a plate with crepes, my comfort breakfast, and a mug of hot chocolate instead of my usual tea. I sat down and crossed one leg over the other.

"So," I asked. "Sleep well?"

"Sadie?" Carter asked. "What are you doing up so early?" I shrugged.

"Weird dream," and dismissed the matter entirely, digging easily into my breakfast while Carter and Amos exchanged looks. "Don't stop for my benefit, go on with whatever you were talking about," I said, arching an eyebrow to let them know they'd been caught.

"I'm just nervous about that storm heading this way," Amos told me. "It seems to have magic radiating from it, but none that I can recognize." _Greek magic, maybe?_ I asked myself, nodding at my uncle to show I understood.

"I was thinking of taking a couple initiates and taking a closer look with Freak," Carter added. "It _does_ seem sinister and I want to see if it's some form of Chaos magic."

"Wouldn't Amos recognize it if it was?" I asked, looking between them.

"There are different forms of Magic, Sadie," Amos began. "This could easily be something I can't recognize. It's Ancient and powerful, yes, but it feels younger than Egyptian magic. We were discussing possibilities."

Words about my dream were caught in my throat, but still, I kept it to myself. Really, if Aislin were a threat, I think I'd feel it, but she seemed just as exasperated as I was about the whole thing. And angry with her gift, but I could see how knowing the future would get extremely frustrating. "So, maybe some other Ancient empire?" I suggested instead. If they figured it out on their own, it would be easier for me.

Amos nodded. "It seems that way. I'll look into the matter further, but it's best we get some ideas from Bast as well, when she shows up."

"I'll go find Freak," Carter said, moving to get up, but I stopped him.

"Carter, it's a massive thunderstorm, and Freak isn't exactly a graceful flier. It's probably best we just talk to Bast for now, maybe contact a couple other gods for further guidance."

"That does seem best," Amos agreed before standing. "I'll speak with you again on the matter later." Carter turned to me as soon as he was gone.

"What are you hiding?" he demanded.

"I'm not hiding anything," I retorted.

"Sadie. I've spent enough time with you since Christmas Eve that I can tell when you are lying, scared, annoyed and sad, because you cover it all up with a brave facade. You're lying, I know that, you're scared by it, and you're generally annoyed most of the time. What's up?"

It surprised me that he knew that much with only a few sentences, but I just wasn't ready yet. "I'm sorry. I can't talk about it."

"Is this about your weird dream?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Was it a _ba_ trip?"

"I don't think so," I answered. "It was just weird, I guess." He dropped the matter after that, for which I was thankful as Felix came down the stairs, too suspiciously hyper for so early, a few minutes later. Then again, the kid was only nine.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so this will mainly be in Sadie's and Aislin's POV, and it's Semi!AU. I'll put in an OC pairing later, not sure who yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Two: Aislin

I felt like I was living on bad coffee, caffeinated soda and fast food, which made me glad I inherited dad's godly metabolism, among other things. But really, what's not sleeping for four days, spending all your time either outside or on tumblr, when you have freaky visions of end- of- world catastrophes?

Yeah, okay. So maybe I was ridiculously tired, and a little bit cranky, and Nico and Malcolm weren't helping. That wise- ass son of Athena was constantly e-mailing me essays on how to sleep without dreaming, and the little Hades brat? Well...

My head snapped up at the sound of somebody trying to pick the lock. Immediately, my left hand went for my bow, the right grasping at an arrow, fashioned celestial bronze/ titanium blunt tipped. My personal favorite, perfectly balanced, virtually indestructible. Believe me, I've tried. I knocked the arrow, pulling back easily and lifting it, keeping it centered around where my opponent's upper-body area would be (Assuming he or she wasn't a little person, of course). I took a deep breath and pulled back fractionally more before the door slammed wide open.

"Don't shoot!"

"Nico!" I snapped, lowering the bow. "Warn me, or shadow- travel in or something. No more of this lock- picking nonsense!"

"Well that is kind of ironic," he told me, smirking. He'd been all smug like that ever since he got taller than me, which wasn't exactly hard to do. I was five foot four, eighteen, and Nico was not only a year younger than me, he had also finally beat Percy out in height, so he was about even with Jason.

"What, the fact that when I hear somebody picking my lock, I automatically go, as you and Will put it, 'all ninja archer'?"

"No, the fact that me randomly appearing in your room with no warning is what you'd prefer compared to me using the front door. I thought you'd be asleep."

"Nope," I replied, collapsing my bow and setting it down. "I try not to sleep much anymore."

"That's not healthy," Nico mused.

"And that is?" I demanded, pointing at the sketches on the walls. "This is what I see when I'm asleep," I gestured madly to them, and he put his hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

"Maybe I can get Perce to talk to one of the Hypnos kids," He suggested. "I'd ask Annabeth, but she hates you."

"Her fault," I assured him. "She went for my injured side intentionally!"

"And you humiliated her in front of camp," he reminded me. "You were ten and you corrected her on the exact dimensions of the original Parthenon. You know how pissed she was?"

"Big deal, it's one building." I muttered.

"She _lives_ for architecture." Nico pointed out.

"Then she has no life. Seriously, Nico, even _Percy_ broke up with her after the Giant war. She's controlling, arrogant, cares more about _buildings_ and _monuments_ than _people_-"

"You're being judgmental now," he retorted.

"Yeah, well, she started it!"

"I swear, the only campers you get along with are the Stolls, Percy, Leo, Malcolm and I. You need more friends." He sat next to me on the bed, relaxing, while I glared pointedly at his shoes. It took him a moment to reach down for them and pull them off, but I relaxed some when he did.

"Now who's being hypocritical? I get along with most of my siblings, 'specially Will, and I'm friends with Rachel, and Thalia, and a couple other huntresses. Oh, and Jake Mason, since he and Will started dating."

"They don't count, you barely see them. My point is, you should be more open minded."

"I _was_ open minded. I tried to be friends, but as soon as Golden Girl decided I was enemy number one... and then told them everything... about the freakish visions..."

"Don't be like that."

"Nobody at either camp trusts me because of my visions," I sighed. "Because I'm not Oracle, and it shouldn't be possible. Because the gods all want me dead aside from Dad and Hermes. Take your pick, they all hate me for some reason."

"You make them uneasy. Most children of Apollo don't have power like yours."

"They all have healing, or something useful." I said, suddenly sad. "And then there's me. The little prophetess outcast." I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them.

"You're so moody when you're tired."

"M' not."

"Yes," Nico said, shaking his head. "Get some rest."

"Don't wanna!" I complained, moving to grab at my coffee, but Nico took it and tossed it out a window, not seeming to care what damage it could do. A car honked and there was the screech of brakes and loud cussing before he shut the window again.

"No more putting off your sleep. You'll make yourself sick, and then Mal and Will are going to strangle me and pin my body to a tree with arrows, because I'm the only one who ever gets to see you. Now, go to sleep, for the sake of my life."

I growled at him, moving to get off the bed, but he pinned me down and rubbed something on my forehead that smelled suspiciously like lavender and eucalyptus, and less than a minute later I could feel myself falling asleep.

The vision tonight was, for lack of a batter word, like an acid trip or something. I wasn't even sure if it was a real vision, or just a side- effect of whatever Nico drugged me with to make me fall asleep. But there I was, standing on a papyrus boat, the sky around me swirling with different auras.

I knew that was wrong right away, since I can't see my own future, and that meant I never saw myself in the visions, and I was certainly never in my own body during them. I turned around. On the boat with me was Horus, the falcon- headed Egyptian god, and a senile man gumming at some holy weapons like a toddler. I tilted my head, completely and utterly confused, when the god said, "We need to talk, Greek."

Of course, the way he said 'Greek' made it clear what he thought of me, and I narrowed my eyes, reaching for my bracelet (it expands into a compound bow), just to find it wasn't there. When I looked up at the god again, he looked fully human, with creepy gold and silver eyes, but the sword in his hand made me uneasy.

"Why am I here?" I demanded, steeling myself and glaring at him.

"You're a messenger, you're here to deliver a message," he retorted. Insulted, I turned away from him.

"You want a messenger, go find Hermes. I'm busy."

"You're asleep." Horus deadpanned.

"I'm asleep because you gods don't give me any time to rest!" I snapped. "I didn't ask to be half Magician, but what do you care? None of you care anything about me other than the urge to destroy me. Ever think if you stopped giving me visions, you might hate me less?"

"Like I said," Horus was obviously ignoring my earlier outburst. "You're a messenger. You're going to deliver a message, it's your destiny."

"I'm not delivering any messages for you freaking gods," I told him. I hadn't realized he was right behind me until he gripped my shoulder and yanked me around to face him. I tried to pull away, but his grip was tight, and I could feel it bruising my shoulder.

"Like it or not," he growled, which I found impressive for a bird, "you're in the middle of this war. Tell your Greeks that if they don't stop interfering with our business they'll pay for it. And like it or not, you're our business."

"You can't just tell me I'm not allowed to have contact with my family," I said.

"I just did. Relay the message and then go to Brooklyn. The Kane family will take you in."

"And if I refuse?" I demanded.

"You have five days, Aislin. You saw the outcome of this war." Horus pushed me back, and I hit the edge of the boat, barely stopping myself from tumbling overboard. "Make your decision, Greek, and then we'll talk."

"I'm not abandoning my family." I told him, voice barely above a whisper.

"The magicians are your family."

"I'm not willing to just abandon my father, who happens to be the only god with _faith_ in me, or Nico, or Will, or Mal, not any of them! You can't ask me to do something like this!" I choked out.

"I already am." Horus said. "It's what you're meant to do."

"I don't care. I don't want to. I won't."

"We'll see." Horus told me, and I could hear his footsteps retreating from me.

"I've already made my decision."

"Well then," the god sounded amused. "I suppose that's the end of it?"

"Yes," I said with conviction.

"I suppose then I can't change your mind."

"No, you can't." When I looked up, Horus and the senile man were gone.

* * *

A/N: I'm thinking this is semi- AU, because I can't for the life of me decide when it should take place. Maybe between book two and three. Anyways, I do not own anything, I only have the pleasure of writing this stubborn story :) Have fun with it, I guess.


	3. Chapter 3

Three: Sadie

There was no slipping into Aislin's head that night, for the fifth time in a row and I wasn't sure whether I was thankful, or disappointed that I was no closer to figuring anything out.

I got up at my normal time and went downstairs, and to my surprise, I was the last one up. Everybody was at the breakfast table, and even Khufu looked worried. I grabbed some food and tea and sat down in the empty seat next to Carter. "What's going on?"

"Horus sent me a message last night," Carter informed me. Apparently the others already knew. "He wants us to go kidnap some girl in South Carolina."

"Horus wants us to kidnap someone?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. "Who? Some servant of chaos or something?"

"I don't know her name, but I know what she looks like. He said he gave her a warning last night, but he knew she wouldn't listen, so he wanted us to go get her within the next five days. Preferably as soon as possible, though."

"So are we going today?" I asked.

"I want to give her a chance to make up her mind to do whatever it was that Horus asked of her, so no." Carter answered. "I'm thinking tomorrow."

"Do you have any idea why Horus wants her?" Walt asked, an adorable, confused- puppy expression on his face.

"Not the slightest, but there was no arguing with him," Carter answered, slumping in his seat and rubbing his eyes. "Whatever it is, it's obviously either bad or important."

Getting a rather unattractive idea, I glanced at Carter. "What did she look like?"

"Kind of short, blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin," he said and while I knew there were probably a lot of people who looked like that in the world, I groaned.

"I know her, sort of," I informed them. "Her name's Aislin, she's a prophetess-"

"You mean a diviner?" Zia asked.

"No, I mean a prophetess," I replied. "Her father's a Greek god. Lately I've been able to slip into her head when she's having these visions, but for the past five or so days, either she hasn't been sleeping or something's been blocking me."

"Greeks?" Bast hissed. "They control Manhattan. We try to avoid them."

"Wait, _that's_ why we aren't allowed in Manhattan?" Felix asked. "What if they're friendly?"

"The Greeks lived in Egypt for a long time. They moved in on our territory," Bast replied. "We never got along with their gods."

"So, why does Horus want her?" Carter asked. "I mean, Sadie must be mistaken, because gods don't have kids, but-"

"The Greek gods did, quite often actually," Amos informed us. "They're quite famous for having children with mortals and abandoning them to become heroes. These children were half mortal, half god, called demigods." Bast nodded.

"If she's a prophetess, then she's likely a daughter of Apollo," the goddess added. "He's the god of Prophecy, among other things."

"That still doesn't help us understand what our gods want with her," Cleo pointed out.

"Her mother was a magician," I said. "That's what her father told her, last time I was there."

"Wait, the Greek gods don't have contact with their children," Bast said. "They've forbidden it, I heard. There's no way her father actually spoke to her."

"He did," I insisted. "I was there. It was the first time I was still inside her body after the visions ended."

"Sadie, I want you to try and make contact with Aislin," Amos told me. "It might help. At the very least find out what she's doing. You can go track her down tomorrow. For now, we should research more on the Greek gods. It may help."

We all nodded, rising from the table. I hadn't eaten a thing, but my stomach was in knots. I felt like I had betrayed some part of myself telling everybody about the dreams, but it had to be done. I headed straight back to my room and rested on the bed, unsure of what I was supposed to do.

"Can I offer a suggestion?" I looked up to see Walt standing in the doorway. I hadn't realized it was still ajar.

"Sure," I said, managing not to stutter, and sat up some. Walt was holding a pendant, and he sat next to me, fastening it around my neck.

"It was supposed to help anchor your _ba,_" he told me, "because I know the, uh, godly pillow doesn't work for you and Carter, but I made a few tweaks."

"Thank you," I told him, smiling. He grinned back before standing, his warm hands leaving the back of my neck far sooner than I'd have liked.

"Good luck, Sadie," He said, giving me one last, lingering smile before walking out the door.

Aislin wasn't asleep when I found her. She was taking drawings off the walls and shoving them into a duffel bag along with clothes, journals and a quiver full of arrows.

"Will, Jake and Mal are going to meet us in Manhattan tomorrow," a male's voice said from behind her. She turned to look at him, and for the first few seconds, I thought it was Anubis. The boy was tall, with messy black hair and dark brown eyes, pale skin, wearing a skull- and- crossbones t- shirt and leather jacket over a pair of dark jeans. "We should reach the Empire State building by midnight."

"Empire State building?" Aislin asked, zipping the bag closed and turning to face him. "Nico?"

"We're bringing you to Olympus," He told her. "So that your father can keep you safe."

"No way," she shook her head. "Most of those gods have tried to kill me! Besides, my dad's too busy driving the sun chariot across the sky to worry about taking care of me."

I filed away that bit of information for further questioning. _Sun chariot?_

"That god basically told you that if you didn't cease contact with us, he was going to start a war. What right does he have?" Nico asked. "No, we're moving you. Olympus. Camp isn't safe."

"Camp is very safe! I am going to camp!"

"It'll take us longer to get to camp," Nico pointed out, grabbing her duffel.

"I don't care, less campers have made attempts to kill me than gods!" She yelped as Nico slung an arm around her waist and started pulling her along. They left the hotel immediately, and Nico shoved her in the direction of a black Ferrari. _How could he afford a car like that_? I wondered. Aislin sighed and sat down in the passenger seat.

"I'd really love to just shadow travel," Nico said, "but it's too dangerous right now. I can't take you by boat, or by plane, so we have to drive to freaking New York."

"Not my fault the gods all hate me," Aislin told him. "Come on, let's just get moving. Did you say Mal was waiting for us?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't he off in university somewhere?" Aislin asked, turning to the boy in the drivers seat.

"This is Mal. He may be a child of Athena, he loves his school and stuff, but you two have been 'unofficially dating' for like two years now. Of course he's waiting." I couldn't see her face, but I could definitely feel Aislin's blush at that. They fell silent for a while, so I concentrated on returning to my own body.

When I woke up, my first order of business was to find Carter, who was in the library, along with almost everybody, save Bast, Amos and Walt. They all looked up upon my entrance. "Hey," I gave a quick wave.

"What did you find out?" Carter asked.

"The Greeks are aware of Horus' warning to her. They're bringing her to Olympus, which is apparently the Empire State building. She's traveling with another boy, not sure if he's a demigod, and they'll be in Manhattan by midnight tomorrow, to meet with more people."

"It's good that they'll be here at night, it'll be easier to kidnap her then," Jaz informed me. "Apollo's the god of the sun in Greece. She'll be weaker at night than in the day."

"The thing is, though, she was arguing with him. Her dad drives the sun chariot across the sky every day, so she said he wouldn't be able to protect her. She wanted to go to a place called Camp, but I don't know where that is." I added. "So we'll have to get to her before they meet up with their reinforcements, I guess."

"I feel like this is kind of wrong," Felix said, walking up to us. "I mean, what has she done that we need to kidnap her?"

"We can't just ignore Horus," Carter sighed. "Even if it feels wrong."

"Agh!" Khufu grunted, which I assumed was an agreement with Carter.

"Khufu's right," Bast said. "If she's innocent of whatever Horus is angry with her about, we can let her go. She already knows anyway."

"For now, though, the plan hasn't changed," I agreed. "We'll try to intercept Aislin and Nico before they reach wherever they want to go."

"I think you should go and eat something, put down the research for now," Amos said, appearing in the doorway. "We have most of the information we need, and have access to."

We filed out of the library solemnly, and I could tell we were all wondering the same thing. What did Horus want with this girl?

* * *

A/N: Welp, this doesn't seem very popular... I'm being stubborn though. My main focus, since it's more well-liked, will be 'Unusual Disagreements' for which next update is a week from today. So, yeah. Updates for this one, since it's so much less popular, may be few and far between, like a little side project...


	4. Chapter 4

Four: Aislin

I'd finally worn Nico down into letting me go to camp instead of Olympus, so now we were on our way to meet Mal, Jake and Will, and I was nervous, for more than one reason. It was night, I was out of my element, and Nico agreed with me when I said I thought we were being watched.

Central Park is creepy at night. I was clutching at my bow, following the son of Hades and feeling like an abused puppy- jumpy and nervous. I heard a twig snap behind me and immediately whirled around, releasing an arrow into the dark where I'd heard the noise.

"Now you're being paranoid," Nico informed me. "It was probably some woodland animal."

"You're in your element here, I'm not," I hissed, eyes scanning the trees. "Where are they?"

"By they do you mean your invisible stalker, or your brother?"

"Who do you think, smart-ass?" I grumbled. "I hate this place."

"Afraid of muggers and murderers?"

"I am very tempted to hit you right now."

"Screw it, I'm not letting you go to camp. We're going to Olympus, right now." He wrapped an arm around my waist and tossed me over his shoulder.

"No way! Zeus will blast me!" I punched at his back, letting go of my bow, which shrunk back into a bracelet. "Nico di Angelo let me go right now!"

"No can do, Miss Carmen. You are officially under demigod arrest. Meaning, you are not to leave my sight until we reach your brother."

"I'd almost rather you bring me to the underworld, but please, no Olympus!" He dropped me ungracefully to the forest floor, and I grunted and glared up at his retreating back.

"Fine, Camp. I think I hear Will anyway." I sighed in relief when he said that and stood, brushing myself off. I was about to start walking when a hand clamped over my mouth, a strong arm wrapping around my waist to lift me off the ground. Panicking, I pressed against my bracelet, which expanded into my bow, and slapped it into my opponent, who let go. I turned and kicked him in the chest, knocking him flat.

"Nico!" I called, knocking an arrow. "Get your ass back here!" I backed up slowly, listening for other noises. A projectile flew at me from the left and I ducked it, launching an arrow from where it came from. The boy I'd knocked down started to get up and I turned, my bow once again shrinking as I sprinted toward where Nico had disappeared. When I reached the clearing, I found Nico, Will, Jake and Malcolm unconscious on the ground, and several kids watching me.

"What did you do to them?" I growled, fists clenching.

"They're asleep." One girl told me. "They're fine, but we need you to come with us."

"No way in Hades," I said, grabbing a throwing dagger from my belt and flicking it in her direction. She called out some spell and the dagger dropped in mid- throw. _Dad?_ I called mentally. _Now would be a really good time!_

"What do you want with me?" I asked, stalling them.

"We're not sure actually," The boy who'd grabbed me walked around from behind and joined the pack of kids. "We're under orders to take you home with us, though."

"Horus sent you." It wasn't a question and I heaved a mental sigh. "I already told him no. The answer stays the same."

"There isn't another option. You have to come with us," the girl from before said.

"I refuse to believe that," I told her. "If Horus wants me so badly, he can come kidnap me himself."

The blinding flash cut off a reply, but instead of Dad standing there, The four on the ground were now beginning to regain consciousness.

"Look, this isn't our choice," another girl, with darker hair, informed me. "We follow the path of the gods."

"Fine. If you must, then at least fight me like real people. No magic," I crossed my arms, leaving no room for argument.

"I've got this," the boy said, pulling out a wicked looking _khopesh_, an Egyptian sword. I gripped my longest close- range weapon, an Italian dagger, sixteen- inch stygian iron, a birthday present from Nico, and pulled it free from my boot. As the boy stood in a ready position, I relaxed my grip somewhat and closed my eyes.

This was one thing that my sight was good for. I could see clearly in slow motion as the boy slashed at me from the side, and I raised my dagger for a block before slamming my foot into his rib. Four cracked, one broken. I rolled off to the side as he staggered briefly before recovering. He lunged again, and I ducked under his blade, slammed my elbow into his jaw and left a small cut on his arm, not enough to drain the life-essence, but enough to make him tired. He fell back, panting hard. Fight won, minimal damage to the enemy.

"Carter, she's predicting your moves!" The first girl, the blonde, warned. "Be unpredictable." I growled, opening my eyes, as Carter watched his sister wearily. Fine, no cheating.

I ran toward him, sliding under his clumsy slash, and knocked his feet from under him. Taking advantage of the curve of his blade he buried it in the sand around my ankle, effectively trapping me. I kicked out with my free foot, catching him by chance in the solar plexus, stunning him. Carter started reaching for me as I pulled the _khopesh_ free and tossed it to the side. My dagger lay a few feet away, and I rolled toward it, pulling myself into a standing position. I was trapped in between Carter and the other magicians, I needed more room to move. Dashing toward a tree, I used it as a platform to jump from, landing in a roll and ending in a crouch a few feet from my friends, who had now gained their bearings. Seeing that I was within reach, Malcolm grabbed me around the waist and pulled me against his chest protectively.

"I'm just going to end this now, and say you can't have her." Nico informed them.

"Nico?" The blonde girl asked. "You're loyal to the gods, right?"

"That depends. Sometimes, though my dad seems to think I'm an idiot. I'm more loyal to my friends." The son of Hades shrugged.

"Well, we're loyal to our gods," she said, gesturing to their group, "and our gods need to see Aislin to prevent a war."

"A few things," Mal interrupted. "One: How the Hades do you know Nico and Aislin? Two: Trying to kill dangerous demigods is a pastime for our gods, but that doesn't mean they _won't_ start a war with yours if you kidnap one. And Three: Even if we'd let you take Aislin, which we _won't_, by the way, there's no way we're letting her go with you as a blind show of faith after a stunt like this."

"Okay, well, first, maybe some introductions," Carter put in.

"Good idea," the dark- haired girl agreed immediately.

"I'm Carter Kane," Carter started, and my eyes narrowed fractionally, cogs in my head turning. Horus had mentioned the Kane family. "This is my sister, Sadie, and our friends, Zia Rashid, Walt Stone, Jaz and Felix. We're members of the House of Life, followers of the Old methods and Egyptian gods."

"Malcolm Andrews," Mal told them, still holding me tightly. "This is Nico di Angelo, Jake Mason, Will Solace and you apparently know Aislin already. We're demigods, children of the Greek gods and goddesses." There was an undertone laced in there, an unspoken sort of _we can kick your ass_ within the words. I tried not to smile.

"Why don't you all come with us back to Brooklyn, and we can sort this whole thing out?" Jaz suggested. "That way, you can still protect each other if needed, and we can explain both sides of the story."

"Fine," Malcolm agreed. "But be warned, my mother's a goddess of war. I don't take aggression toward those I care about lightly."

"You're adorable," I told him. "Really." He smiled down at me, stormy gray eyes softening slightly as he squeezed my waist.

"Underage," Will grunted, separating us and walking between Mal and I with Jake, who was rolling his eyes. Nico took up my other side faithfully.

"Overprotective," I shot back, sticking my tongue out at my brother. Nico snickered and Jake failed to hold back a chuckle.

"Immature," Will said, unamused.

"Annoying."

"Grounded."

"What?" I demanded. "You can't _ground_ me, you aren't my parent!"

"Older brother, I have authority. Grounded." He smirked victoriously.

"You suck," I grumbled, and Will retorted with something along the lines of 'it's my job' to which I casually intercepted his foot and tripped him, using the opportunity to take Malcolm's hand again. Jake had stopped to help Will up, so Nico followed me, watching the magicians wearily.

"It'll be fine," He muttered, as if trying to convince himself.

"Don't worry, Nico. We can handle ourselves," I told him, nudging my shoulder against his. He flashed me a rare smile before looking over my head at Mal.

"Camp knows?" He asked.

"Percy does. If anything goes wrong, He'll come for us," Mal answered. "Thalia's been teaching him a thing or two about tracking, but he can follow us by our body signatures."

"Eighty percent water, forgot for a sec," Nico nodded.

"I feel so left out of this conversation," I told them.

"Just a fail safe," Mal assured me, squeezing my hand. "Nothing to worry about."

"And that, my dear, dear Malcolm, is exactly what you _shouldn't_ say when you don't want someone to worry." I muttered, pulling my hand free of his to cross my arms over my chest. He smirked and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to kiss the top of my head.

* * *

A/N: I'm not sure whether or not I'm pleased with the fight scene, I had the visual and all in my head, but writing it was... hard. Very, very hard.


	5. Chapter 5

Five: Sadie

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," I told Carter softly.

"Technically, we're following Horus' orders," He replied, though I could tell he was uneasy.

"Still. Five demigods. We're bringing five half-god kids into our home," I hissed. "I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it, you just have to deal with it," Carter said, giving me a stern look. "Sure, maybe they're half-god, but Bast is there, and Amos. If the need arises to restrain them, we can."

"We don't know anything about their powers," I pointed out. "Aside from Aislin. And we know next to nothing about her, too. This is practically suicide!"

"You know," a voice drawled next to me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the di Angelo boy walking casually next to us, hands in his pockets and eyes on the darkened sky, "if you really feel that uncomfortable having us around, we're perfectly happy to leave."

"Sorry," Carter shrugged. "About this whole thing, I mean. I like it no more than you."

"Do you never disobey your gods?" Nico asked incredulously, finally turning to look at us. "Ever? I can't imagine how boring life would be if we always listened."

"Horus was persistent," Carter said shortly. "He's not somebody to be ignored."

"Neither is my father, but I've learned to ignore his ranting and insistence that Bianca should have lived and I should be dead." Nico shrugged. "And I ignored his raging for the first few weeks he thought Aislin and I were a couple. Gods, that was funny."

"You and Aislin never dated?" I asked. "I guess that makes sense. Things aren't awkward enough between you for that."

"No, Aislin is my best friend. We've both been outcasted by most demigods. Besides, Aislin is way too in love with Malcolm to consider dating elsewhere. He's older than her though, so Will gets in between them a lot." He chuckled. "I guess it's nice for her to still have a sibling who isn't wary around her."

"Do you have siblings?" Carter asked.

"I did, once." Nico stopped responding after that, and fell back into step with his demigod friends. I frowned up at him.

"Not very social, is he?"

"They've probably been through a lot," Carter pointed out. "We have, too, you know how it is working with the gods."

"They don't work with their gods, they work _for_ them," Bast corrected, and I hadn't realized she'd even shown up, so I barely managed to stop myself from jumping. "Their gods avoid contact with their offspring. Leave them to fend for themselves."

"That's a bit harsh," Carter frowned. "Poor kids."

"Yes, most of the Greek demigods don't live past their twenties, but those who do become very successful. The Romans are a bit smarter, though." She looked up at Nico, her hair fluffing. "He sets me on edge. Probably a son of a death god."

"What's so bad about death gods?" I asked, feeling the need to protect Anubis, despite his not being here. Bast sighed.

"Death gods are bad company, Sadie. Especially Greek and Roman death gods. Their children usually aren't... in their right mind. Insane. Hitler was a son of Hades." Carter beside me winced. I had to admit, Hitler was pretty bad in his prime, but that didn't characterize all children of death gods, right?

"Just... be extremely careful around these demigods. They all set me on edge," Bast added as an afterthought. I nodded, frowning slightly as I watched them walk. Nico had rejoined the blonde couple, who seemed to be talking about something unpleasant, from the tense of Aislin's shoulders. She looked over her shoulder, as if she could sense me watching, and we locked eyes for a moment.

She seemed to recognize me as that presence in the back of her mind then, as her eyes widened slightly in realization, and she stumbled over her own feet. Malcolm said something I couldn't hear, and Aislin turned back to him, breaking our silent conversation. I shook my head and slipped my hands into my pockets easily. I still felt conflicted about bringing them into our home, but I could definitely feel for these demigods. I remembered how life- altering it had been when Carter and I were tossed unceremoniously into the world of gods and magic, and that was _with_ Bast's help. I couldn't imagine the pain of trying to go through something similar with nobody by your side to explain it, to protect you from anything.

_'Some of us have satyrs to extract us from situations in which our godly DNA is manifesting and we're becoming a danger to ourselves, but I think you get the point.'_

My eyes widened considerably. _'Aislin?'_

_ 'I knew I recognized your aura from somewhere, but the fact that you're inside my head? I'd feel bad for you if I wasn't still pissed off right now.'_

_ 'Well that's comforting,' _I told her dryly. _'How are you inside my head?'_

_ 'When... whoever shoved you inside my skull did the aforementioned act, it established a psychic connection between both of our minds. Why do you think you've been able to stalk me through your subconscious?'_

_ 'I was _not_ stalking you.'_

_ 'Make things easier on yourself and admit it. You were stalking me. But that's not the point I'm trying to make. Somebody wanted us connected, and I have a feeling it wasn't my dad, or your temperamental bird-brained war-god.'_

It was physically painful to keep from smirking. _'No wonder Horus holds you in such high esteem,'_ I thought to her sarcastically. _'You lack respect for him.'_

_ 'I don't take orders like that lying down. That would mean leaving Mal and Nico alone, and I'll be damned and spend eternity playing pinochle with Hades if I let that happen without a serious fight.'_

_ 'I like you.' _I told her. _'I think we'll get along just fine, demigod.' _I could feel her amusement through the link, but she didn't reply. Now that I was made aware of it, the link in itself was painfully obvious. I shook my head at myself for not noticing sooner. I could feel the swirling thoughts and emotions of Aislin's psych on the other side, and when I nudged at it, I could feel her respond, her attention now on me, even if she didn't flinch physically.

_'Ignore me,' _I thought to her, looking carefully at Bast. _'Just curious.'_

I could feel her understanding, before the chaotic swirl of her emotions retreated to the edge of my awareness. She was there, but so faded I barely noticed. I shoved my hands into my pockets, shivering a little at the cold, still a bit overwhelmed. Up ahead, the demigods seemed to chat amiably, despite being surrounded by a potential threat. Either they were pretty confident or just relaxed, both of which confused me, but I ignored it in favor of listening to my brother and Bast, whose braid was poofed up like she was nervous.

"-not that I'm doubting you, kitten, but they're dangerous."

"I think we can handle them," Carter replied, though his eyes were an open book, I could see how weary he was. "How powerful can they be, right?"

"The better question is how well trained," Zia abruptly joined in. "We can handle them easily if they're clumsy and uncoordinated, but they were pretty comfortable picking a fight with us earlier." I wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but I bit my tongue and let them continue.

"Technically that was our fault," Carter reminded.

_'Bird-brain's fault,'_ Aislin muttered in my head.

_'Eavesdropping?' _I asked.

_'Like you've never.'_ I had to agree with her there, but was unwilling to admit defeat, so I turned my attention back to our little 'family'.

"We were following orders," Zia defended.

"Stupid orders," I snorted. "I'll readily admit that I'm worried about what Horus is up to, kidnapping a prophet. We have access to diviners, what's so special about this one? Why does he want her so bad that he's willing to risk war with the Greeks?"

_'Half the Greeks would be happy to see me gone,'_ Aislin reminded me.

_'You're not helping,'_ I snapped back.

"Sadie's got a good point," Carter admitted. "I'd like to know that, too. I'm hoping he'll give me some answers, or a sign or something."

_'Yeah, right.'_

_ 'You're distracting.'_

_ 'I'm an Apollo kid, we're third best at distractions. First comes Hermes campers, their dad's the god of thieves, and then Aphrodite's children, goddess of love and beauty and all that gross stuff.'_ I rolled my eyes slightly.

"So you're hoping that the most stubborn god of the lot will give you an explanation? Good luck." I told him honestly, though it was also a convenient cover for my apparent rolling of the eyes at 'nothing'.

"Thanks," he sighed, looking exhausted and about ten years older, as if questioning the whole thing. "Come on, we'll stop here and I'll call for Freak."

* * *

A/N: It's getting harder to write this, I just have no idea how I'm going to go about it. *Dramatic sigh* I'm taking it off my two-week update schedule. I'll update whenever I get clever ideas.


	6. Chapter 6

Six: Aislin

The Griffin surprised me.

It was massive, and it had a boat tied to it. A boat. You'd think it would be more convenient to just ride between the shoulder blades, right in front of the wings, but nope. Egyptians and their boats.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked quietly. Nico grunted in agreement, and Mal sighed. "That thing has to be more dangerous than the flying chariots."

"A child of the sun god, afraid to fly?" It was one of said Egyptians speaking. I didn't grace the jab with turning around.

"It's called having the lord of the skies want you dead," I snapped. "Any more questions?" Sure, dad was doing a fine job protecting me while in the air, but it'd be comforting if I had more than just dad and uncle Hermes looking out for me. Carter walked up to the griffin, stroking its neck fur, and it leaned toward him, nipping at him in what was probably affection, but looked painful nonetheless. Kind of reminded me of Mrs. O'Leary when she first saw Percy after a long time, only a little less 'over- energetic- hellhound'.

_'Little irritated?'_ Sadie asked me over the link. I let out a breath through my nose, fingering at my bracelet.

_'Maybe a little,'_ I admitted grudgingly after a minute. _'Forgive me for not trusting the gods you worship.'_

_'Forgiven. I barely trust half of them.' _That probably shouldn't have made me feel better, but it did, so I relaxed slightly and walked forward.

"So, Brooklyn?" I asked. "What made you decide to set up shop there?"

"Manhattan was taken," Sadie returned easily with a smirk. I chuckled, though I was still uneasy at the prospect of flying in a boat attached to an unsteady, flying monster. Sure, maybe it was a good monster, but a monster is a monster, and monsters will do what monsters do, when it comes down to it.

"Climb on," Carter invited, and I hate to say that I hesitated, but, well, I did hesitate. Mal slipped his hand into mine, warm and rough and comforting, and he pulled me forward.

"We're heading back to camp, to let them know what's happening and tell them you're safe," Will said, and Mal, Nico and I turned to face him. "IM us when you're done," He and Jake turned back into the forest with one last reassuring smile. Nico merely shrugged, as if he knew it was going to happen, and he and Mal both climbed into the boat, Mal pulling me down after him, so that I was half on his lap with one of his strong arms wrapped around my waist. It was comforting, so I sank into him, felt him tighten the hold fractionally and Nico next to us rolled his eyes. He always made fun of us 'cause he thought we were one of those PDA couples, but we rarely ever saw each other, so I think it should be allowed.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Nico said in a hushed tone. I hummed in agreement, wincing at the first signs of a developing headache behind my eyes. I really hated being a Prophetess, I would be only too happy leaving the 'see into the future' bit to Rachel. The whole thing just really, really sucked.

Images flashed behind my eyes at lightning speed, I could barely catch a real glimpse. There were flashes of Carter and Sadie, Nico and Mal, and Horus. I shook my head as if to clear them. I was trying to trust the Egyptians here, and if I let my visions control my opinion, nothing good would come out of it.

"We should go," Sadie stated, her voice wavering slightly. Bast looked over to her sharply, nodding after a moment. I looked down at my hands, fingers twined against Mal's larger ones, fingers callused from archery.

"You ever get that feeling something awful is about to happen?" I asked quietly, voice low enough so only Mal and Nico could hear me. Nico gave a dry chuckle, but Mal tensed, his grip around me tightening again.

"No, but I've learned that the best thing to do when you have one of those feelings is to run like there's a hellhound on your back, or pull out some pointy things and get ready to attack," Mal answered. I smiled slightly.

"Do you have any pointy weapons with you?" I asked, squeezing his hand briefly.

"It just so happens that I do. So, what do you think is going to hap-"

An ear- piercing screech cut him off mid word. I dropped to a crouch, hands over my ears to stop some of the noise flowing in. "Dragons," I said, seeing them clearly within my mind. "Automatonic, bronze plating of the celestial variety. Ten feet long, wingspan twelve feet."

"Any weaknesses?" Carter called, surprising me temporarily. Grimly, I opened my bow.

"None that I can see. These are well built, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were from Lord Hephaestus's forges."

"And how do you know they aren't?" Bast demanded.

"There's no Godly trace about them," I shouted, exasperated. "No God or demigod created these, I'm sure."

"Titans?" Nico asked, unsheathing his dark sword. I shuddered and looked away from it.

"I don't know. I've never fought Titans, I was in South America during the war, remember?"

"You are of no help," he muttered.

"Look for a weak spot," Mal encouraged me. "Just focus, we'll keep them off of you for as long as we can."

"Right," I nodded and sat cross- legged in a position where I wasn't too far in the way. I took a few slow, measured breaths, and focused my attention on the dragons. I could feel them more clearly now, coming fast from the east. There were only three, but they were extremely well crafted, and I hissed, shaking my head.

"See anything?" Sadie called.

"You'll be the first to know!" I snapped back. "They must be heavily enchanted, they're too heavy to fly without it, so if we can take out the enchanting on them, they should break."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Nico demanded, gripping his sword tightly.

"Sit back and leave that to us, demigod," Sadie smirked back at him. "Magic is our specialty."

"She did not just tell me to stay out of a fight," the son of Hades narrowed his eyes. I chuckled.

"You won't have to," I assured him. "The three of us can keep them distracted for long enough to have the magicians destroy the enchanting."

"How long do we have before they attack?" one of the Egyptians, the pretty girl with dark hair and amber eyes - Zia, if I remembered correctly - asked, extending her staff.

"No time at all," I replied as three shadows took form in the air above us.

"We never get any preparation time," Mal shook his head, pulling a sword from his belt and leaping onto the nearest dragon as they dropped. I followed his lead quickly, swinging onto the neck plating of the next dragon, and I could see Nico do the same, stygian iron sword held in an unshakeable grip in one hand. The dragon I held onto swerved through the air, trying to shake me off, and as I tightened my grip, I could feel a pattern of indentations in the metal, and cautiously peered down. It was like a fusion of the Ancient Greek word and the hieroglyph for the same word: _obey_. It occurred to me then, that these machines might have been created in a godly forge, and then the magic surrounding them masked their natural feel. No wonder they seemed so wrong to me.

I slid the dagger clutched tightly in my one hand through the inscription, the stygian iron cutting through bronze like a hot knife through butter, just as Sadie shouted an unfamiliar word. "_Ha-di_!"

The dragon I was riding fell to pieces, bronze plates and gears tumbling through the air, just as I was, before a hand caught my wrist. "You okay?" The darker- skinned boy - _Walt,_ if memory served right - looked down in concern. Dangling out over open air with fire roaring around and the heavy smell of machine oil in the air, I could only nod, lost for words. The boy yanked me up, pulling me back into the boat, and I wiped a layer of sweat from my face before grabbing my bow. Zia was in a very literal firefight with one of the dragons, her staff summoning up magical flames to counter the automaton, and Felix appeared to be shooting penguins at the other remaining dragon. Sadie had slumped over, looking extremely tired, and I made my way over to her as the others fought around us.

"You okay?" I asked.

"The divine words take a lot of energy out of me, but I'll be fine," she replied. Jaz hovered over her as well, fretting, and I saw Walt stop Felix's penguin parade by throwing what appeared to be an amulet at the dragon Nico was attacking, which turned it into a very startled, very real camel, and caused it to start falling rapidly. I almost felt bad for it.

Nico joined us in the boat a moment later, looking regularly grumpy and only nodding his thanks at the magician as he sheathed his weapon.

Mal appeared to be having a time of it with his own dragon, which was bucking and weaving furiously, which almost made it seem as though he was riding one of those fake bulls they had in some bars - not that I knew from personal experience, of course - as it dodged Zia's assault. Finally, it seemed as though the heat began to melt the armor, and Mal stabbed his sword deep through the automaton. The lively eyes of the machine started to dim, and then it started to fall, with Malcolm still seated firmly on it's back.

"Mal!"

* * *

A/N: I really have no excuse, it's been over four months since I updated this, and I was honestly planning to after father's day, but my computer stopped charging, and I just got it back from being worked on, so, yay, update!


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